In preparation of our annual Christmas Soup open house on Saturday, I was wiping down the baseboards and walls in our kitchen and was reminded of my preparations for the event last year.
It was a rainy Friday morning, and I was running in between our little room in the back of our house where we keep our TV (we call it the back house). I hadn't showered or gotten out of my pajamas, but was getting the boys set up for a little auto-sitter while I enjoyed my morning routine, uninterrupted. The boys were happy, entertained and contained, so I made my way back to the house to get ready. I made my way carefully up the steps, to find the door . . . locked. Oh, that's right, I made sure to close it behind me so the rain wouldn't get in. No problem, I'll just call my hubby at work from the back house to run home and open the door. Back across the yard, pick up the phone and . . . it's off the hook in the house. CRAP!!! Now what?
Plan A: I pulled on the door handle really hard for about 15 minutes with tears (or was that rain?) streaming down my face. No luck.
Plan B: I grabbed a rock from my backyard and pounded away. Have you ever intentionally broken a window? It is a wild feeling. . . the anticipation of hearing the glass brake, your hand going through something hard that should be intact. Window eventually gave way, I was in the house, cleaned up the mess, then braced for the rest of the day. I successfully found someone to replace the glass that afternoon and everyone loved our party the next day.
Now today, hubby has a busy day at work, so he leaves early. I'm ready to leave the house at 8:35 to get #1 & #2 to school by 9. We go through the usual business of getting in the car and trying to ignore the plethora of distractions between the front door and the car. We get in and we're off . . . or so I thought. The car won't go into gear. CRAP!! I call hubby who can't get away. Now what? Thank goodness for good friends who were not too far away or too busy to add a trip to our house to pick up kids for school. Then I remembered I have been paying for Roadside Assistance on my cel phone. They arranged for a tow truck to our mechanic, and #3 and I are home for the day. Lucky for me, I bought new makeup yesterday and now feel like I can go out in public again. Urgh!!
On the bright side, I do have everything I need to make the remaining soups for our party on Saturday, and I have all the material to finish the quilt I'm making for my college roommate's baby (who is almost 2 months old now).
I'm not going to think about what adventures next year will bring.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
But I wove you . . .
This is the way #3 tries to get out of doing something he doesn't want to do. He says it in this sweet little sing-song voice and cannot pronounce the L in love and it just melts your heart, kind of. But that's not what I wanted to write about . . .
One of my favorite programs is This American Life. In a nutshell, it's thought provoking, in depth journalism, with essays every so often. It's an NPR show from Chicago that is on every weekend, usually airing Friday evening. (It has also become a TV show on Showtime, although I've only seen snippets of that because we don't have that channel). This show has opened my eyes to new ideas, people, ways of looking at the world, authors, etc. I love it. I subscribe to their podcast because I can't possibly ensure that the hour the show is on each weekend (or rebroadcast for that matter) is the precise hour my children are going to be quiet, so I tune in when I'm driving/running/doing dishes, you get the picture.
Episode #293 aired on July 11, 2008 entitled A Little Bit of Knowledge.
Act 2 of the show was an excerpt of a book by Dan Savage called The Commitment. The excerpt is regarding gay marriage in 2004, and how certain members of Dan's family were in favor of he and his partner getting married, but their son was ademently opposed to the idea, while Dan & his partner weren't sure if they wanted to get married at all. But in the middle of Dan's discussion about gender issues with his son, he has this wonderful discussion about falling in love that just melted me. Here it is:
It's not a decision you get to make, I said. It's not a decision I got to make, it's a decision your heart makes.
When?
When you're older, I said. One day your heart will let you know whether you're the kind of man who falls in love with a woman or a man. There was a long silence and I thought DJ had fallen asleep. He was curled up next to me resting his head against my side and I couldn't see his face. I stayed very still.
Grandma says you're supposed to marry the person you love, DJ suddenly said. He hadn't fallen asleep, he'd just been quietly working through something.
That's right, I said. Grandma does say that, all the time.
But you love me and we're not gonna get married.
Grown up love is a special kind of love. People don't fall in that special kind of love with their sisters or their mothers or their sons. There's something in your heart that makes you go out into the world and find someone new, someone you've never met before, and that's the person you fall in love with.
Why?
Because that's how new families are made. And one day you'll meet the person you want to make a new family with and that's the person you're supposed to marry.
Why?
Because marriage is a promise that you make to that other person. A promise to stay in love with them forever. To be related forever, so that you'll always be together.
Amen, brother.
One of my favorite programs is This American Life. In a nutshell, it's thought provoking, in depth journalism, with essays every so often. It's an NPR show from Chicago that is on every weekend, usually airing Friday evening. (It has also become a TV show on Showtime, although I've only seen snippets of that because we don't have that channel). This show has opened my eyes to new ideas, people, ways of looking at the world, authors, etc. I love it. I subscribe to their podcast because I can't possibly ensure that the hour the show is on each weekend (or rebroadcast for that matter) is the precise hour my children are going to be quiet, so I tune in when I'm driving/running/doing dishes, you get the picture.
Episode #293 aired on July 11, 2008 entitled A Little Bit of Knowledge.
Act 2 of the show was an excerpt of a book by Dan Savage called The Commitment. The excerpt is regarding gay marriage in 2004, and how certain members of Dan's family were in favor of he and his partner getting married, but their son was ademently opposed to the idea, while Dan & his partner weren't sure if they wanted to get married at all. But in the middle of Dan's discussion about gender issues with his son, he has this wonderful discussion about falling in love that just melted me. Here it is:
It's not a decision you get to make, I said. It's not a decision I got to make, it's a decision your heart makes.
When?
When you're older, I said. One day your heart will let you know whether you're the kind of man who falls in love with a woman or a man. There was a long silence and I thought DJ had fallen asleep. He was curled up next to me resting his head against my side and I couldn't see his face. I stayed very still.
Grandma says you're supposed to marry the person you love, DJ suddenly said. He hadn't fallen asleep, he'd just been quietly working through something.
That's right, I said. Grandma does say that, all the time.
But you love me and we're not gonna get married.
Grown up love is a special kind of love. People don't fall in that special kind of love with their sisters or their mothers or their sons. There's something in your heart that makes you go out into the world and find someone new, someone you've never met before, and that's the person you fall in love with.
Why?
Because that's how new families are made. And one day you'll meet the person you want to make a new family with and that's the person you're supposed to marry.
Why?
Because marriage is a promise that you make to that other person. A promise to stay in love with them forever. To be related forever, so that you'll always be together.
Amen, brother.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Reduce - Reuse - Recycle
I don't know how I got so lucky today, but my children entertained themselves this afternoon by using trash and recyclables to make robots. They worked together and dug through the trash, and here is what they came up with. I love it!!! The two yellow ones have Matchbox cars on the bottom, which they used to race down the hill in front of our house. What a great afternoon.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Giggles
#1
One year for Christmas, I took our daughter to the dollar store for her to pick out a gift for Dad. I know, big spender. (This was probably the Christmas when she was two.) She chose a small vanilla scented statue of Jesus that had adhesive on the bottom to stick on a dashboard or something similar.
Fast forward a few months and we go visit my husband at his office. I pointed out to her that he had the Jesus statue on his bookshelf. She took a whiff and said, "Ummm. It smells like Jesus in here."
#3
It is a favorite bedtime ritual in our house to read stories. Sometimes I choose the stories, sometimes the kids do. The other night I chose The Peace Book by Todd Parr (if you don't have this book, I highly recommend getting it). Each page begins with the phrase: Peace is . . . followed by some action, ie. . . .sharing a meal, . . .keeping the street clean, . . . being who you are, etc.
The book opens with, Peace is making new friends and #3 says, "Who is Peace?" and starts pointing to each of the five children on the page and asking, "Is that Peace?" The third page reads: Peace is listening to different kinds of music and there's a picture of a person in a turban playing a recorder to a snake coming out of a basket, and he says, "Oh, that's Peace."
I can't wait for the day he sees a snake charmer on the Travel Channel or something like that and yells out, "That's Peace!!!"
One year for Christmas, I took our daughter to the dollar store for her to pick out a gift for Dad. I know, big spender. (This was probably the Christmas when she was two.) She chose a small vanilla scented statue of Jesus that had adhesive on the bottom to stick on a dashboard or something similar.
Fast forward a few months and we go visit my husband at his office. I pointed out to her that he had the Jesus statue on his bookshelf. She took a whiff and said, "Ummm. It smells like Jesus in here."
#3
It is a favorite bedtime ritual in our house to read stories. Sometimes I choose the stories, sometimes the kids do. The other night I chose The Peace Book by Todd Parr (if you don't have this book, I highly recommend getting it). Each page begins with the phrase: Peace is . . . followed by some action, ie. . . .sharing a meal, . . .keeping the street clean, . . . being who you are, etc.
The book opens with, Peace is making new friends and #3 says, "Who is Peace?" and starts pointing to each of the five children on the page and asking, "Is that Peace?" The third page reads: Peace is listening to different kinds of music and there's a picture of a person in a turban playing a recorder to a snake coming out of a basket, and he says, "Oh, that's Peace."
I can't wait for the day he sees a snake charmer on the Travel Channel or something like that and yells out, "That's Peace!!!"
Monday, October 20, 2008
Our Sunday Chaos
Yesterday was an especially weird day. #1 and I began the day by cheering on my friend and mother of daughter's friends in a triathalon. I might have been inspired for a new sport, except I'm not such a strong swimmer.
The preschool where #2 & #3 attend is run by a church and yesterday was Preschool Sunday, and the 3 & 4 year olds have been practicing two songs. So we packed up for church early and were guests in the preschool's church, and what do you know, the boys wouldn't sing. We sat in a pew and watched their classmates sing. Okay, no big deal.
Then we proceeded to our church. #3 throws a major tantrum in the middle of Sacrament Meeting and puzzle pieces go flying. Nice. I ask #1 if she'll help pick up the puzzle pieces, to which she agrees because she's that kind of a kid (thank goodness). She's bending down on her heals leaning forward and bumps her elbow and is jolted upright by the pain and then her eyes roll back in her head and she goes over backwards. I look at her and see her eyes rolling around but she's not responding to me, and I freak out. Hubby and I jump up and try to get her out of the chapel, get her some water and he takes her to get some food. After further evaluation, her blood pressure was probably low from being almost horizontal, and then with lack of circulation because she was sitting on her heels, well you get the picture. She was/is fine.
Nothing like having your child pass out to get your heart pumping. Then when we realized she's okay, I was drained.
We enter Primary, and our behavior problems are in full force, and I was off to the adult's classes to retrieve the parents of said children.
Hubby and I came home and looked at each other and said, "What the heck just happened?"
"We give up."
The preschool where #2 & #3 attend is run by a church and yesterday was Preschool Sunday, and the 3 & 4 year olds have been practicing two songs. So we packed up for church early and were guests in the preschool's church, and what do you know, the boys wouldn't sing. We sat in a pew and watched their classmates sing. Okay, no big deal.
Then we proceeded to our church. #3 throws a major tantrum in the middle of Sacrament Meeting and puzzle pieces go flying. Nice. I ask #1 if she'll help pick up the puzzle pieces, to which she agrees because she's that kind of a kid (thank goodness). She's bending down on her heals leaning forward and bumps her elbow and is jolted upright by the pain and then her eyes roll back in her head and she goes over backwards. I look at her and see her eyes rolling around but she's not responding to me, and I freak out. Hubby and I jump up and try to get her out of the chapel, get her some water and he takes her to get some food. After further evaluation, her blood pressure was probably low from being almost horizontal, and then with lack of circulation because she was sitting on her heels, well you get the picture. She was/is fine.
Nothing like having your child pass out to get your heart pumping. Then when we realized she's okay, I was drained.
We enter Primary, and our behavior problems are in full force, and I was off to the adult's classes to retrieve the parents of said children.
Hubby and I came home and looked at each other and said, "What the heck just happened?"
"We give up."
Sunday, October 12, 2008
To Play or Not to Play
One of our favorite things to do is go to the park to have a little family baseball game. Hubby or I will pitch, and the kids take turns fielding and hitting. It's usually a pretty enjoyable experience, a few negotiations about "one more pitch" or "one more hit," maybe some tears, but generally, it's fun.
BUT . . .
. . . as is the case with parks in general, there are other people there, which is usually a good thing, except when it comes to the family baseball game (or any ball game we've intended to play at the park). After we've been going for a little while, a kid who doesn't belong to us, will skirt around the fringes, start shagging some balls, and before you know it, they're struggling with #2 over whose turn it is to bat next.
Hubby's point is this, "I came to the park to pitch balls to my kids, not your's. I didn't come to the park to referee 6 kids fighting over the next swing (with the bat, we hope), it's tough enough with 3, so would you kindly butt out."
I get it. Sure I do. But where do you draw the line? Our kids will usually ask to play with other kids in their ball games at parks and other parents are gracious enough to consent. I don't mind so much except when one of our children isn't in the mood for sharing one of his parents. He does so well with one on one attention, especially when it involves Dad and a ball. Maybe it's different for me being with them the majority of every day, that I don't mind mixing it up a little and playing with other kids at the park because we do have a lot of one on one time, so the hour Hubby has to play with the kids at the park on a Sunday afternoon is precious to him. During the week it gives me a chance to speak to other adults at the park during the day, where he's not at the park to make friends, he's there to play with his kids.
Sometimes, we've taken balls and mitts and if other kids don't have a mitt, they usually don't ask to play, but any other sort of ball game seems to be free reign.
I clearly understand both sides of the issue (Economy? War in Iraq? Equality in marriage? BHAA, we're talking real issues here) I'm just not sure how what the protocol for diplomacy is in resolving this one. I'm up for any suggestions you have. Give it to me straight. I don't need it sugar coated, my skin is pretty thick.
I'm serious.
BUT . . .
. . . as is the case with parks in general, there are other people there, which is usually a good thing, except when it comes to the family baseball game (or any ball game we've intended to play at the park). After we've been going for a little while, a kid who doesn't belong to us, will skirt around the fringes, start shagging some balls, and before you know it, they're struggling with #2 over whose turn it is to bat next.
Hubby's point is this, "I came to the park to pitch balls to my kids, not your's. I didn't come to the park to referee 6 kids fighting over the next swing (with the bat, we hope), it's tough enough with 3, so would you kindly butt out."
I get it. Sure I do. But where do you draw the line? Our kids will usually ask to play with other kids in their ball games at parks and other parents are gracious enough to consent. I don't mind so much except when one of our children isn't in the mood for sharing one of his parents. He does so well with one on one attention, especially when it involves Dad and a ball. Maybe it's different for me being with them the majority of every day, that I don't mind mixing it up a little and playing with other kids at the park because we do have a lot of one on one time, so the hour Hubby has to play with the kids at the park on a Sunday afternoon is precious to him. During the week it gives me a chance to speak to other adults at the park during the day, where he's not at the park to make friends, he's there to play with his kids.
Sometimes, we've taken balls and mitts and if other kids don't have a mitt, they usually don't ask to play, but any other sort of ball game seems to be free reign.
I clearly understand both sides of the issue (Economy? War in Iraq? Equality in marriage? BHAA, we're talking real issues here) I'm just not sure how what the protocol for diplomacy is in resolving this one. I'm up for any suggestions you have. Give it to me straight. I don't need it sugar coated, my skin is pretty thick.
I'm serious.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Recent Musings
I took my own advise and finally wrote blog ideas down in my little notebook I carry around in my purse.
~~Recently our sons' preschool had a family dinner with pizza and a puppet show. In principle it was a great activity (. . . here's the BUT), except for the Webkinz raffle. I'm sure the planners had nothing but good intentions when they decided to hold the raffle. The dinner and entertainment was all free, so it's not a big deal to hold a raffle for $1/ticket. No big deal, right?
WRONG!!!!!
My single-minded little 5 year old can't get his mind off the stuffed animals sitting on the table. My sweet husband took him outside for most of the evening to divert his attention. The poor kid was ready for nuclear meltdown well before the raffle was to occur. And then it happens, the raffle and two other kids win. No Kidding!?!? #2 can't even think straight he's so disappointed. After a long day and he's tired, this is not a pretty sight. I think he cried . . . LOUD, all the way home, and then when we got home, and finally just collapsed.
Perhaps I'll suggest further raffles be things for the adults, hopefully we can handle ourselves better when we don't win than #2.
But there's a silver lining to this black, black cloud.
The next morning, I was recounting the events to my dear friend. She suggested her children hadn't discovered the evils of Webkinz yet, (but she has a few on hand for when they do) and she volunteered to make a special delivery from the Webkinz Elf to #2 on Monday afternoon. And "Oh the joy. The joy, joy, joy!" (I think that was supposed to be "noise," but I'll take a little poetic licence with that one.) Thus Alvin joined our family, a quiet beagle, who has brought a smile to one little 5 year old's face that continues to this day.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Webkinz Elf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~~We live in a city where Tuesdays are free days at some of the museums. The first Tuesday of the month happens to be the favorite of my children . . . Dinosaur Museum (aka Natural History Museum), Science Museum, and the Model Railroad Museum. It's a great way to spend a Tuesday with thousands of your closest friends who also love free things. I love that we live so close to these great museums and we can go once a month, and I can let the kids wander to whatever interests them that day. It happened to be the contraption that shot small balls out of the mouth of a frog, simulating the way a Darwin's Frog belches its babies from its mouth. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture because they loved it! Something else they loved was pushing each other through a conveyor belt intended for produce at the mock grocery store, or shapes in the building department. I love the way they explore things and figure out what works in their brains. I usually sit back and watch, and wait for them to come get me and show me what they did or discovered or built. We spent three and a half hours at the one museum, so we didn't even get to see the dinosaurs. We'll hit that one first next month.
~~Wednesday morning was the preschool trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Heaps of fun!! But we're going through a bit of a heat wave and on the way home we discussed what to do for the rest of the day, and we decided to go swimming. Yep, it's October and we're going to the pool because it's just too hot to sit indoors in our 100 year old house with no air conditioning, and the sun is just too hot if I'm not in the water, but you won't hear me complaining. It was a glorious day! So glorious, in fact, we went back the next day.
I LOVE this town!
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